What was the most pivotal moment in history?

[Pendaric]

What one event do you reckon altered the course of civilization more than anything else?

Not really talking about stuff like the invention of the wheel or harnessing fire, talking about events for which we have a specific date and people involved.

For example, the battle of Thermopylae which prevented the Persians conquering Greece, or the assassination of Julius Caeser. Or anything similar.

Alternatively, what's been the most pivotal moment you've lived through? I was born in 1968, so I don't remember WWII, the Cuban missile crisis or the Kennedy assassination. For my generation I reckon the biggest moment in history was 9/11.

[Lisa0315]

Historically, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In my lifetime? I would say 9/11, but the removal of the Berlin Wall, and the failure of the USSR are up there too.

[Pendaric]

Historically, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.


Making it historical, I'd rephrase that as the start of Christianity, because I don't for a second believe in any form of resurrection.

However, fair point. Christianity has had as big an influence on the world as anything, and the start point of the religion is a pivotal moment.

[Notta]

I would think it would be the destruction of either the Library of Alexandria (one of the causes of the Dark Ages) or the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, precipitating the Jewish diaspora.

[Mung Dynasty]

Hmmm, well if you're going to call 9/11 pivotal then that kinda relegates anything Jewish (including JC) to a lesser role.

What about our old mate, Mohammed? Tie 9/11 into the conquest of Mecca and you have a nice pair..............of pivotal moments.

[Notta]

The most pivotal moment I've lived through was Nixon's resignation. S'rsly, the resignation of a President? That's only happened once in our history, while we've been attacked as a nation more times than that.

Nixon's resignation changed the tone of the nation and signaled the end of the turmoil of the 60s.

[DMB]

I think it's really impossible to pick one thing out as the most pivotal. So many small things have ultimately big effects. For want of a nail...

In my lifetime, Pearl Harbour, the Holocaust, the beginnings of the computer, the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan, the Marshall Plan, the beginnings of the welfare state, the foundation of the UN and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the start of the Cold War, the Berlin airlift, the independence of India and the partition of India, the development of television, McCarthyism in the States, the gradual relinquishment of European empires, the elevation of youth culture... I could go on, but it's quite late and I am old and tired. :)

[Mung Dynasty]

........ the foundation of the UN and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights..........

And the Islamisation of the UNHRC. :mad:

[DMB]

And the Islamisation of the UNHRC. :mad:

That's a lot later. You'll note that I'd only got as far as the 1950s in my list.

[Mung Dynasty]

Yes, I know. It's just something I've been a bit grumpy about lately.

[Mediancat]

World War I. Ended the Austro-Hungarian empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, and set about the beginning of the end of the British Empire.

The one I've lived through? Depends on how you define lived, but I'd say the resignation of Richard Nixon. Admittedly, I was just past 4 at the time, but I was alive, so --

Rob

[DMB]

Yes, I know. It's just something I've been a bit grumpy about lately.
I've been somewhat involved with it for the past 10 years and I'm more than a bit grumpy.

[Puck]

On a modern and personal level, 'women's lib'. Hopefully, one day, that will spread to all of the world.

[DMB]

On a modern and personal level, 'women's lib'. Hopefully, one day, that will spread to all of the world.

I was just posting about things in my lifetime, and that goes much further back. But it ranks, of course, with the abolition of slavery, the enfranchisement of the working class and other such huge social upheavals.

[Notta]

The discovery of ether as an anesthetic.

[Thalia Thinks]

For me, in my lifetime. Bush stealing the presidency, or however the fuck he got in there. He didn't just defecate on our turf but the world wide.

(Am I allowed to cuss here? I have a rather foul mouth.)

[PostMortem]

In all of history: The Big Bang, I don't remember the exact year but I'm pretty sure it was a Tuesday.;)

In my lifetime: The fall of the Berlin Wall. I think the importance of this moment is really underestimated. There have been an incalculable number unexpected results, both positive and negative, due to that moment. And most of the outcomes that were predicted by 'experts' due to the fall of the Berlin Wall never came to pass.

[Lisa0315]

Y2k...:d

[Octavia]

1439 (or there abouts) Johannes Gutenberg puts together the first printing press.

In the last century, the "earthrise" photo seen from the moon. (Before my time, though.)

[Lisa0315]

1439 (or there abouts) Johannes Gutenberg puts together the first printing press.

In the last century, the "earthrise" photo seen from the moon. (Before my time, though.)

That is definitely up there.

Hubble Space Telescope, and the discovery of Dark Energy.

Holy Crap! The cracking of DNA...That has got to be bigger than anything, and the only thing I can think of that might supercede that in the future would be the results of the Super Collider proving the big bang.

Lisa

[Jobar]

I'm a huge fan of 'alternate history' science-fiction stories. It's astonishing how many pivotal moments there have been in human history; I really don't know if it's possible to pick a single one, or even to make a reasonable guess on how many tiny changes might have completely redirected history.

I have one novel called Wildside- a tale of a world in which human beings went extinct before getting out of Africa. There's an example of a truly pivotal moment!

In modern history- I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, and how breathlessly close the world came to a nuclear war. And there was an episode during Reagan's administration when a computer glitch in the Soviet defense system nearly led them to launch an attack on the US; and we didn't even know about it until years later.

[Pendaric]

The invention of the internet.

[Christina]

I can't pick one out of all of history, but in my lifetime a lot of pivotal things happened. The moon landing, JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King's assassination, the civil rights movement for blacks, women and now gays, Vietnam and all of the protests, hippies, LSD, mainframes being used for business applications, the first PCs and the internet. It feels like a completely different world than the one that I was born in, mostly for the better.

Now get off my lawn.

[Alethias]

1439 (or there abouts) Johannes Gutenberg puts together the first printing press.

In the last century, the "earthrise" photo seen from the moon. (Before my time, though.)Ya I was gonna say the invention of the printing press too. Only thing I can think of that might eclipse that is the invention of the written word, and we have no record of that.

[Danhalen]

June 8th, 1869: the patent for the vacuum cleaner. I'm being serious.

I'd say pivotal events in my lifetime would be the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent end of the cold war, then 9/11 (defining our newest invisible enemy).

[Brother Daniel]

No Berlin Wall without the Cold War.

No Cold War without WW2.

No WW2 without WW1.

No WW1 without the unification of Germany.

No unification of Germany without the Franco-Prussian War.

No Franco-Prussian War without the French declaring war over a frickin' point of etiquette.

If you try, you can blame the French for nearly everything. :D

[Anne]

1439 (or there abouts) Johannes Gutenberg puts together the first printing press.

Ya I was gonna say the invention of the printing press too. Only thing I can think of that might eclipse that is the invention of the written word, and we have no record of that.

Thirded.

Prehistory? I'd say string. Without the invention of string, we'd have had a rough time.

[Notta]

No Berlin Wall without the Cold War.

No Cold War without WW2.

No WW2 without WW1.

No WW1 without the unification of Germany.

No unification of Germany without the Franco-Prussian War.

No Franco-Prussian War without the French declaring war over a frickin' point of etiquette.

If you try, you can blame the French for nearly everything. :D
When my grandmother was compiling our family history, she found a French ancestor who was a minor noble in the court. His title was "Holder of the Royal Pants." When my kids discovered this, they had a wonderful time making up silly-sounding "royal" titles for all of our family.

[BWE]

Galileo realizing that constant momentum is equivalent to static state.

[Joykins]

The fall of communism was the biggie for my life, I guess. 9/11. The invention of the Internet.

Before my lifetime, the discovery/development of antibiotics and vaccines.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

When those first amino acids decided to sponsor an orgy.

[BWE]

Inventions, I'd say the zipper and the transistor.

[Brother Daniel]

I think the (prehistoric) moment when someone first thought about the fact that (s)he was thinking must have been a bit of a shocker.

Sometimes I think we still haven't really come to grips with it.

[Ray Moscow]

September 11, 2009: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney are indicted for high crimes against the United States of America

Oops -- I'm getting ahead of myself a little.

[Lisa0315]

September 11, 2009: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney are indicted for high crimes against the United States of America

Oops -- I'm getting ahead of myself a little.

It will not happen. As much as I admire Obama, he does not strike me as the type to go after a former President.

Lisa

[Puck]

Hush, Lisa. Let us have a moment of sweet daydreams.

;)

[dancer_rnb]

WWII German invasion of the Soviet Union

Assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo.